Invest in Love
by Here-right-now
Summary: Carl Bruner's whole life is all about banking and big business. But all this changes when he hires NYU student, Victoria Sears as an intern, when he learns there's more to life than money. Will he learn how to love something other than his career?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first Ghost story and actually my first story on my website. This is about if Sam just left and went to heaven and didn't interfere with Carl's plans with Oda Mae. He recieved the promotion that Sam received days before he was murdered and already knew how work that position required, so he decided to hire an assistant. This is what happens. I hope you enjoy it! **

Today was the day of my big internship interview. I was supposed to meet with Mr. Carl Bruner for an assisstent position along side him. I did my research and he was fairly new as a big manager. He took over after Wheat left the position shortly after receiving it. As the crammed elevator jetted me up to the 18th floor, I started to become nervous. College at NYU became expensive. Expensive to the point where a twenty year old needed a paid internship along side her job. Business was my minor, but my dreams laid with the French horn. I wanted to do that more than anything. But performing was a risky business. And I needed a backup.

I always had a fascination with banking, especially since my father was a banker back in Nevada. But this was more upscale. Everything in New York City was upscale.

The doors opened and I had to shuffle my way out from the back of the elevator. My heels almost made trip.

"God damnit." I muttered. I tried to regain all composure. _'You have to look good, remember?'_ I wore what most women I saw in a bank wore. Nice jacket and pencil skirt. Hair pinned up. Even with all this you could still see how young I was. _'Okay. You can play this cool.'_ I walked in the general direction of where his office was supposed to be. I looked around, lost for a moment. There it was! A door cracked opening, a name plate too small for the holder read 'Carl Bruner.' I guess he really was new to that office. I approached and hesitantly knocked on the door. I peeked inside and saw a man a little too focused on his computer. Awkwardly, I knocked again, a little louder, breaking him from his trance.

"Yes?" He asked annoyed, turning to glare at me. _Oh wow, I'm doing great._ His expression changed when he met my awkward gaze.

"Um, I'm here for the internship interview." I said quietly. He looked at his watch, running a hand through his golden brown locks. He was tall, skinny man, with a face that seemed to be naturally anxious looking.

"4:30 already?" He asked himself. He looked back at the computer screen, closing whatever he was so intently working on. "Have a seat Miss-"

"Sears." I finished. "We talked on the phone?" I tried to clue him in as to who I was.

"Yes, I'm sorry. Just a little distracted." He smiled nervously. Was he under as much pressure as I was? I leaned over and shook his hand. "Can I see your resume?" I nodded and dug into my folder, handing him a sheet of paper. I saw his eyes skim over it as he relaxed in his chair. "Now why would you like to be an assistant here at Bank of New York Mellon?"

"Well first off, I've always enjoyed big business. My father was one of the head bankers at Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company in Nevada and whenever I would come in with him, I always enjoyed watching him win over some investors or solve some of his big money clients debts. Just the thrill of it really sucked me into it. I'm currently majoring in music over at NYU but I'm minoring in business economics. Performing isn't reliable, as much as I enjoy it. But banking really combines my interest and my need of a career. And I believe this internship would help me with both." I smiled. Carl smirked up at me, very amused.

"How much do you know about withdrawing and transferring money from accounts?" Jeez, this was banking 101. You can explain this.

"Well I have transferred accounts before. One time I transferred six accounts into one new account. That took a few hours though." _No no no, stay postive, remember?!_ "Very large accounts that my father asked me to do. I'm very used to the system." Oh god, can I please leave?

"Well your previous jobs look good. A little lack of business," My heart started pounding. "But I think we maybe able to change that." Did I get it? Oh my god, _did I get it?_ "We'll call you later this week, okay?" His tone softened. He stood up from his chair and offered his hand again. My heart was out of control now. I looked him in the eyes as I met his hand. God, he was handsome. He couldn't be more than twenty-seven. Damn, he was established for his age. I smiled, trying to be professional.

"Thank you so much Mr. Bruner." He nodded and sat down. I collected my things and started to leave.

"It was a pleasure to meet with you today." He grinned, returning to his computer. I smiled widely.

"Thank you." I walked out. Did I do well? Did I succeed? Am I going to intern there? A billion questions went through my head. But as I entered the elevator, one thing kept repeating in my head over and over.

_A lack of business, but we can change that._


	2. Chapter 2

Being a French horn player in a very crammed apartment had it disadvantages. You could only play certain hours without getting complaints. In the middle of possibly my best rendition of all of Mozart's horn concertos in a row, I was interrupted by the phone ringing. Disgruntled, I set my horn down and trudged to the kitchen.  
"Heeello?" I answered.  
"Hi this is Carl Bruner." I tensed up.  
"Um, hi."  
"Is this Victoria Sears?" He asked. Damnit! Make yourself sound professional.  
"Yes, this is her." I swallowed.  
"Yes this is regarding the internship." Oh come on come on!  
"Did I get it?" I blurted out. Aw shit! "I mean-"  
"Yes, you got it." He laughed. A huge wave of relief poured into me. I got it! Thank goodness he had a sense of humor. "Can you come in tomorrow at 3 for our first meeting?" I immediately looked at my way too scribbed-on calendar. I had a private lesson till 2:30. I could get there in a half hour, right?  
"Ermmm... Yeah I say I can." I said with doubt in my voice.  
"Alright, I'll see you there."  
"Okay, bye." He hung up. "YES!"

"Oh, hello Victoria." He smiled, not breaking his gaze with his computer. Man, was he addicted to that thing or what?  
"Good afternoon ." I smiled right back, not sure whether to sit down or stand up. I awkwardly kept my stance halfway into the room. He smirked, finally turning away from that damn thing long enough to look at me.  
"You can sit down." He offered. He seemed to be a little bit looser this time around. I did as he said trying to get comfortable here. "Alright, since you're new to our banking system, I want you to simply make a new account."

Was it really wise to trust her with such an important deal? After all, my head was on this account. Worst she could do was screw up and I'd be able to fix it.  
"You're going to make it for Rita Miller, account number 926-31043."  
"That's it?" She asked, looking up at me. What? She wanted more of a challenge? Could I trust her with the rest of the process?  
"Yeah, that's it for now." I said, getting up from my chair. "I have to go to the bathroom. I'll be back in five minutes." That should be enough time for her, right?

My fingers typed away, hitting the wore down keys with a fast, graceful pace. _M-I-L-L-E-R, R-I-T-A_. This was easy! I can do this! I grinned triumphantly at the screen. Almost done... There! And it only took me a minute. I looked at his desk. Papers were everywhere. I contemplated doing something about it. I couldn't help but peek at the papers. Mostly complicated bank coding, memos and what not. I couldn't help my inner OCD to at least place all the emails and memos and two different stacks, trying to help clean it up. I placed his pens in their proper holders and decided to leave the codes. He might be working on something. He came back a few moments later.  
"Done?" He asked, walking through the door with a cup of coffee. He looked down at his now somewhat clean desk. "What did you do?" He asked, slightly worried, coming over to the desk quicker than I expected. He looked down, scanning the contents on his desk.  
"I just organized it a little bit. Don't worry, I kept the accounts' coding the way it was." I hoped I wasn't fired. Relief came over his face as he saw whatever he was working on was fine. Must be something real important.

"Thanks, Victoria." I said, actually glad she cleared my desk. She did everything right with no mistakes. I wondered how much more she could do for 'basic banking skills.' "Alright, I want you to take enter a new account number." I said, leaning over her shoulder.  
"Okay," she said quietly, ready to type.  
"824-74581" I said. This was the result of combining Sam's old accounts. She typed it fast without having me repeat it. "Now transfer that account into the new one." Her eyes slightly bugged at the account amount. She shrugged it away as I tensed slightly. Please don't screw this up.  
"And... There." She said. I looked at the screen, making sure everything was right.  
"Nice job," I grinned with a smugness. She got up awkwardly as she went around me. I looked backwards slightly, looking at her behind. She had a nice body. A really nice butt. Damnit Carl! This is your intern! Remember? She's five years younger than you anyways. She looked prettier than Molly though, and that was saying something. Her long, brown hair curved around her face perfectly. Her lips were a peachy pink and her eyes a beautiful green. She was almost the opposite of Molly. Her body more shapely and shorter, but still thin and held with confidence. I forced my focus back to a more important matter.  
"Alright, I'm going to make a call and I want you to go through those boxes. If it's a paper from more than four years ago, shred it." All my accounts were under three years old, so I'd doubt she'd mess anything up. And moving into the new office should be a whole spring cleaning for me. She nodded and picked up a box from the top of the stack of them. She started shuffling through papers, keeping the ones that I needed in short neat piles. She turned to me after a few minutes, handing me a photo.  
"Mr. Bruner, do you want to keep this?" She asked. I looked at it for a moment. It was Sam, Molly, and I at the Rooster's Christmas party. That wasn't even six months ago. Wow... How times have changed. It wasn't _my_ fault. I never meant for it to happen. I wish it didn't.  
"Yeah, thanks." I replied, allowing her to get back to her work. I couldn't let this distract me. I shoved it in my desk, trying to forget about it. Forget about the whole thing.

This wasn't the most entertaining thing to do, but hell. It was in one of the biggest banks in the country and it was with this adorable guy. Every time he touches me... And when his face was so close to mine, oh my god. I could feel his warm breath on the nape of my delicate neck. It sent chills down my spine. _That is so disgustingly wrong!_ My conscious scolded. Ah, a little crush never hurt anyone, right? But now, all I could do was shred some papers. I glanced at Carl who was behind me, smiling widely at his computer.  
"Yes..." He whispered, ecstasy breaking his voice. A serious of fast paced, loud types on his computer followed this. I smiled to myself, listening to how passionate he was about this. About big business and money. This was his whole career. And he enjoyed every second of it.

After a while, I glanced up at the clock. Four-fourty five. The bank's going to close soon. I was almost done with three boxes and Carl seemed to be done with whatever he was avidly doing. I felt his eyes on me and unintentionally held my breath.  
"Miss Sears?" He asked. I turned around slowly.  
"Yes?" I looked at him with wide, innocent eyes. He paused for a moment, his mouth gaping like he was about to say something, then decided against it.  
"Listen, I was wondering, what are you doing tonight?" My heart stopped, instinctually I looked away from his eyes.  
"Um... I have no plans except practice for a concert." He smirked at me, looking down at his desk.  
"I'm curious to pick your brain a little bit more about... Economics." He said. Was this his way of asking me out on a date? _Was_ he asking me out on a date? I felt my face fluster.  
"Well I'm completely free after this." I offered. Was this a bad idea? I didn't care. He's a good man. He seemed nice. And I really did not care at this point. If he wanted to talk to me _more than he had to_ I wasn't going to deny him that. "You could come over to my place." My head was spinning. "If you wanted."

**A/N: This was short (more of a filler chapter) but they'll be more later. Tell me what you think of it! :)**


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